This blog is totally independent, unpaid and has only three major objectives.
The first is to inform readers of news and happenings in the e-Health domain, both here in Australia and world-wide.
The second is to provide commentary on e-Health in Australia and to foster improvement where I can.
The third is to encourage discussion of the matters raised in the blog so hopefully readers can get a balanced view of what is really happening and what successes are being achieved.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

So It Looks Like There Is Still No Evidence Things Like The PCEHR Make A Difference.

Abstract

Materials and Methods
The authors employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement methods. MEDLINE,
Cumulative Index to Nursing Allied Health (CINAHL), EMBASE, and Cochrane
Library databases, from 2001 to June 2012, were searched. Descriptive
and comparative studies were included that involved use of health IT in a
clinical setting and measured effects on patient safety outcomes.

Results
Data on setting, subjects, information technology implemented, and type
of patient safety outcomes were all abstracted. The quality of the
studies was evaluated by 2 independent reviewers (scored from 0 to 10). A
total of 69 studies met inclusion criteria. Quality scores ranged from 1
to 9. There were 25 (36%) studies that found benefit of health IT on
direct patient safety outcomes for the primary outcome measured, 43
(62%) studies that either had non-significant or mixed findings, and 1
(1%) study for which health IT had a detrimental effect. Neither the
quality of the studies nor the rate of randomized control trials
performed changed over time. Most studies that demonstrated a positive
benefit of health IT on direct patient safety outcomes were inpatient,
single-center, and either cohort or observational trials studying
clinical decision support or computerized provider order entry.

Discussion and Conclusion
Many areas of health IT application remain understudied and the
majority of studies have non-significant or mixed findings. Our study
suggests that larger, higher quality studies need to be conducted,
particularly in the long-term care and ambulatory care settings.